Two Teeth — Big Difference
 

On the one hand, I am happy.
My excellent LBS took back my Origin8 crankset, which was just garbage. (Crankarm kept unscrewing itself, and the aluminum was just destroyed; chainring bolts fell out or simply snapped when tightened.) They agreed that it was poor quality, and they gave me a Sugino XD to replace it, asking me only to pay the difference. Nice.
On the other hand, I am slow now.
I wouldn't have thought there'd be that much difference between a 46x16 (Origin8) and a 48x16 (Sugino). But people are just bombing past me on hills, leaving me idling at red lights.

Two teeth, big difference. I sort of prefer the old Bobby Clarke.


http://nhl.speedera.net/photos/c/clarke062901.jpg
New, "improved."




http://espn.go.com/media/nhl/2000/12...a_clarke_i.jpg
Original flavor.

Toughen up!

(and that is coming from one running 43x17 ;-))

change the rear cog to 17 or 18

It's in your head.

You think? Feels like it's in my legs.

grow a pair. ;)

Your body may be in tune with a 17 or 18 cog.

or get a smaller rear wheel. will lower your gear inches and make your bike look really, uh, 'sick'.

or something.

+1

Harden the **** up or get a 17t cog for better skid patch count.

Get off of BF and go ride that thing till you drop and give it a couple weeks and you should be faster than you where before

get a 46t chainring... you don't need something alternative to adjust the problem, just fix it at the source.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Its amazing how fast a 48x16 will go*

*After a full summer of riding 100+ miles a week, going balls to the walls, not working... or sleeping... and eating enough to build some muscle. Spinning that gear, doesn't suck.

** Whats worse is remembering that, after three months off the bike... "I swear... these aren't my legs!" :D

Says the guy who rides a 42x17....

my aspirations to go 49x15 sound silly i suppose

Go for it. Post your hesitations, get the my-dad-is-a-high-school-football-coach-in-Texas treatment from your peers, and you won't believe how quickly you'll fly up hills. Worked for me. Thanks, guys!

so that explains why my dad calls me a jock when i ride 20 miles on my bike. im currently running 42/15

wambulance did this really deserve a thread?

Is 81" not faster than 77.625"?

Oh, I don't have that bike anymore. I rode that for about a month after I stepped down from 52/16, so I stand by my original sarcasm.

I think he means slower accelerating.

But to the OP: Doesn't it feel awesome when you get up to speed in the flat stretches? You just gotta get used to mashing that stuff. I dropped a few teeth from my chainring and I hated it at first, but now I'm better at spinning and I'll just be all the faster for it if I ever go back.

48x16 sucks, i hate it. i ran it for a while then i went down to 16x44. feels awesome.

Ohhhhh.....gotcha

Of course. So I can get easily find a 46t chainring (the Sugino RD is 130 BCD, if I understand correctly). Thanks.

I'm just surprised that I can feel such a small difference so clearly.

i commuted on that gear last week. i was in a hurry and accidently put my wheel on the 15 tooth side instead of the 17 tooth side after changing a flat. it only seemed a lot tougher the next day after i realized what gear i was running. it's mostly in your head.

That's not too silly. I use a 52x22. But that's only because it's what I had lying around, and money was of concern during my build. Nevertheless, it's still a great ride.

i want calves so big they are cows

It just takes time to catch up to you. I switched from 52x21 to 52x19 a while ago and the first couple of days felt no different. Then, on the third day, I was feeling sore and it felt significantly more difficult, even though it's still a relatively easy gear.

Damn! That's 9.6 gear inches!!! :p :D